Increasing Students’ Access to Sexual Health Services with Virtual Staff Training
New York City Department of Education, New York
The New York City Department of Education, with support from CDC, adapted their full-day in-person Condom Availability Program (CAP) training to a virtual training series, increasing the number of staff in New York City public high schools who could attend and gain the knowledge and skills needed to connect students to sexual health services.
Every New York City public high school has a Health Resource Room with trained staff who provide students in grades 9-12 with free condoms, health information, and health referrals. These components are all part of the Condom Availability Program (CAP). High schools must have at least two staff trained in CAP to meet program requirements.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the New York City Department of Education provided monthly in-person CAP training, condoms, and health information materials to staff. These in-person trainings were paused in Spring 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic led to school building closures. School staff then began requesting guidance and training on how to refer students to health services remotely. To fill the immediate need, the NYC Department of Education created new guidance and a training for staff on operating CAP and making referrals in-person or virtually. These resources ensured that students had access to free condoms, health information, and referrals to health services no matter their location or learning environment. However, staff that attended the new training were not considered fully CAP-trained.
As the school year progressed, more and more school staff who attended the initial training wanted to become fully CAP-trained. The demand prompted the New York City Department of Education to create a virtual CAP webinar series covering topics such as the importance of CAP, being a trusted adult for students, teaching students about consent, and steps for making effective referrals to health services.
By adapting their in-person CAP training to a virtual training series, the NYC Department of Education provided 45 school staff representing 28 schools with critical skills to provide approximately 16,800 high school students with greater access to quality sexual health services, accurate sexual health information, and free condoms in their school buildings and communities.